Crossing Over
by Beastbot X
Summary: "Season 6" finale. With the status quo changing and two of the X-Men leaving for good, will more follow? Plus, H.Y.D.R.A. finalizes and executes its plans for Multiple. Twentieth in my X-Men: Evolution series.
1. Chapter 1

"Crossing Over, Part I"

by Beastbot

Who was he?

He was Jamie.

No wait, _was_ he?

Things had been so confusing lately. He had thought they were confusing back when it had been just him and one other Jamie—_or HAD it been him_?—but now there were many others.

Not temporary clones, not duplicates he could pull back into himself. Full-fledged Jamies—at least as much as he was one, he assumed. Unlike the temporary duplicates that he was normally able to create (Xavier's mindblock preventing the voluntary use of his powers was unfortunately still active), these ones had no telepathic link to him, no presence in the back of his mind like the ones that he remembered (?) being able to normally produce.

But whenever these permanent duplicates were created, they retained the original's memories up until the point of the split. That was why "Jamie" wasn't sure if he was the "real" one. And he felt pretty certain all of the other Jamies felt the same way.

"Jamie" looked tiredly out of the glass. A dozen other Jamies looked back at him, the same expression on all of their faces. Each Jamie was imprisoned in a small cell not even large enough to lie down in, with a transparent front that despite his constant pounding, "Jamie" couldn't break through.

"Miserable" had been far too kind of a word to describe his stay here. He had lost track of the time since he had been imprisoned in this room—it seemed like forever. Usually there would be about an hour every now and then that consisted of incredibly painful experiments, and then he—or at least one of the ever-increasing number of other Jamies—would be led back here and locked away again. They were fed well enough, but "Jamie" didn't feel like eating, and apparently none of the others did, either.

Too bad. If they didn't eat _everything_ that was given to them—and some of the food, though apparently nutritious, was absolutely wretched-- they were subjected to painful torture. If that didn't work, they were force-fed. If that didn't work, well… they were made an example of.

In the midst of all the cells full of Jamies, there was a Jamie who had been particularly defiant. He now hung by the neck from a rope attached to a ceiling rafter, his slightly-decayed body in plain view of everyone and a reminder of how much one of them meant to the larger project—after all, H.Y.D.R.A. could always create more of them. And they did.

"Jamie" had learned soon after his stay here that his initial splitting was no accident—apparently a H.Y.D.R.A. agent had intercepted him one evening on the walk home from the library. Before Jamie could do anything, the agent had injected him with some kind of drug—one that knocked him out and, eventually, caused the split. Jamie only knew of this because he (?) had been told shortly after his imprisonment by a man called Sinister, whom he now knew only too well. Jamie had woken up back in the library, the agent having deposited him there. Jamie had assumed his faint memory of starting to walk home had been just a dream—which of course, it hadn't.

Whatever the food the Jamies were being force-fed was, it was pumped full of hormones. Jamie had noticed he and the others had grown several inches and become a bit more muscular as well since he had been imprisoned here. The aches and pains from what one would normally call "growing pains" were nearly maddening at times. Whatever the ultimate goal was of all these experiments, Jamie was sure he and the others were being used to create some kind of weapon.

As if it were ever in doubt when H.Y.D.R.A. was involved.

"Jamie" continued to mull over his situation, as there was little else to do. He certainly didn't want to look out of the glass wall of his cell at the "reminder" in the middle of the room. As the seconds dragged on into minutes, and the minutes into hours, he slowly started to drift asleep, even though he was sitting up. He was so tired, all the time… one didn't sleep much when they had lost all sense of time, all sense of individuality, all sense of comfort, all hope…

"Jamie" was jolted awake, along with the others, when the lone door to the room slid open and a almost purely white-skinned man with black hair came in, flanked by two guards. The man, whom the Jamies all knew was Sinister, had a very unique appearance. A bit on the tall side and having a lithe, muscular figure, Sinister work a black uniform with a red triangular symbol in the center—the symbol of H.Y.D.R.A. The same symbol was tattooed on his forehead, and his eyes glowed the same red color dimly. Despite the fact that his skin was so white, his lips were black, which amplified every smirk, every grin, every emotion that showed on his face.

"Jamie" panicked as Sinister and his guards stopped at his cell, looking inwards.

"Ah, M-7. It's been a while—well, if you can call two days a while," Sinister smirked. "I think it's time for another split."

Jamie knew full well what that meant. And he also knew it was beyond useless to beg for mercy—that only made the experiment more painful in the end as a punishment.

"Don't worry, we're very close to a real breakthrough," Sinister said. "This…. monotonous… procedure shouldn't have to be done _that _many more times. However, science must march onwards. X-20, if you please."

"Jamie" flinched as the glass wall to his cell slid open and the three-armed guard stepped inside. Her black hair cascaded down the teenage guard's back, two bone claws sticking out of each of her two "normal" arms. A third malformed stump of an arm stuck out of the side of her torso, only one shorter bone claw sticking out of that arm. In addition, a blinking green electronic collar hung around her neck. Jamie wasn't sure what it did, but he was sure it wasn't something good.

X-20 grabbed "Jamie" roughly and wordlessly pressed two of her bone claws against the back of the boy's neck, forcing Jamie up and out of the cell, both of them following Sinister and another familiar female teenage guard as they exited the room.

* * *

Kitty glanced at Rogue, who quickly glanced back before turning her eyes downwards again.

_No understanding or forgiveness there, it would seem._

The same reaction seemed to be coming from a fair number of the X-Men. They understood where she was coming from, her reasons for doing it, but still… they felt like she was abandoning them.

And in some ways, she was.

But this was her life, not theirs. She probably should've broken the news that she was leaving the Institute sooner, she had to admit, but beyond that she wasn't sure why so many of them harbored that passive resentment towards her when she was doing the same thing that Berzerker was doing—she had just decided later and for different reasons, that was all.

Yes... that was all.

She looked out over the Bayville High football field, with lawn chairs spread out everywhere, high school graduations sitting in them with their relatives and friends in the stands. Most were paying attention to the principal, who was now making a rather long-winded speech, but a few kept their eyes focused on her—many of them students she didn't even really know.

Principal Donaldson, caving into public pressure for the umpteenth time, had demoted Kitty a few days ago from valedictorian to salutatorian—supposedly for "missing classes" now and then due to various legitimate emergencies involving the X-Men, though everyone knew the real reason was because of X-23's outburst in the cafeteria the other day, yet again reminding everyone at Bayville High that Mutants were more than met the eye. Anyone who had such an "unfair advantage" deserved to have the playing field leveled, apparently. Many stood to reason that a Mutant simply couldn't have reached valedictorian status on her own, oh no. Kitty _must_ have "cheated" with her "Mutant intelligence" abilities. So now she had switched places with the real salutatorian, Arcade. No speech for her—it was Webber's speech, now. The salutatorian's speech, interestingly enough, had been stricken from the program at about the same time as the announced position switch.

"…and so, as they say, Carpe Diem," Principal Donaldson said, finishing up his fairly underwhelming speech. He was sweating profusely, even though it was rather cool for a day in June—he was clearly very nervous, what with all the Mutants present and the obvious pressure on him because of the recent demoting of Kitty's title. Kitty was honestly puzzled why the short, round little man with a comb-over had ever accepted the job of principal at such a "hot zone" as Bayville High after Robert Kelly became mayor. He clearly couldn't handle stress very well.

"So, without further ado," Principal Donaldson, stepping aside, "Let's hear a round of applause for our school's valedictorian of the year, Webber Torque!"

Webber stepped up to the podium, grinning in a rather goofy manner. Just about everyone present applauded generously, including Kitty—the teenager _had_ worked hard to get the second-highest GPA in the school, after all.

"Heheh… well, uh… thanks everybody… thanks for that!" Webber smiled, adjusting his glasses absentmindedly as the applause died down and Principal Donaldson retreated to the back of the stage and took his seat. "Hi, Mom and Dad! Hi, Aunt Pat! I did it! Heh… Well, um, I know you all are expecting me to give a speech… But, uh, well… sorry, I don't have one prepared. I mean, I'm sure you're all aware of the sitch—I'm not the _real_ valedictorian, after all."

A lot of confused murmuring broke out among the crowd.

"So, uh, I'm hope she'll forgive me for putting her on the spot like this, but—let's hear it for the real valedictorian here, Kitty Pryde!" Webber said, clapping as he stepped aside and motioned for Kitty to take his place at the podium.

"Wait, Mr. Torque—" Principal Donaldson said, his face quickly turning red. "You can't—"

"Hey, it's my speech, isn't it?" Arcade shrugged. "I'm just letting someone else say it for me."

Principal Donaldson sputtered but said nothing, sitting back in his chair and privately fuming.

Amid a couple of confused claps and another couple of boos, Kitty nervously hurried up to the podium.

Putting her hand over the microphone, she whispered, "Webber… _what are you doing_? You're going to get yourself in trouble… I'm okay, really."

Webber waved it off. "Hey, it's the least I can do to try to make up for… y'know, trying to… kill you and your friends a few years ago. Look, if you want to talk later, we'll talk—but you've got a speech to give!"

"Uh… okay…" Kitty said, clearing her throat and nervously looking out over the confused crowd in front of her as she took her hand off the mic. "Well, this is surprising… Um, like Webber, I really don't have a speech prepared either, but—"

Kitty was interrupted as someone near the back of the crowd yelled angrily for her to get off the stage.

"U-umm…" Kitty stuttered, her face flushing red. At the edge of her hearing she heard two graduates conversing in the front row about the possibility of one of the X-Men using their mind control powers to make Webber give up his speech.

"_Phase through this_!" someone in the first couple of rows yelled, hurling a clump of dirt and rock from the field at Kitty. Instead of phasing, Kitty merely ducked, though the dirt did knock her graduation cap off.

Kitty reached over and grabbed her cap, dusting off the bits of dirt off the best she could as she stood up. Her vision was quickly clouding up as tears threatened to start flowing down her cheeks.

_Kitty, listen to me._

Kitty's head suddenly jerked up at the "sound" only to discover that it was Professor Xavier's voice in her mind. Looking into the stands, she saw that indeed Xavier was concentrating, two fingers to his temple as he looked back at her reassuringly.

_Don't forget what I've taught you. Ignore them, pursue onwards. Giving them any sort of attention—or worse, quitting—is exactly what they want. Take advantage of this opportunity Mr. Torque has given you._

_Uh… sure, Professor, _Kitty thought back, briefly wiping her eyes and smiling. _Thank you._

"W-well, I guess what I would have to tell everyone here is that…. Even though this seems like an odd place to say this, the most important things in life aren't the things you learn in school," Kitty said, her expression and voice noticeably gaining confidence as she continued. "Don't get me wrong, the stuff we learn in school is totally important. History, math, English, science…. all of these subjects, of course, increase our knowledge of the world around us and, like, help us all to make the world a better place.

"But knowledge isn't enough. What you learn in school isn't enough to really succeed in life, in my experience. You need things you can only learn perhaps from your parents, or perhaps certain authority figures… whether those authority figures be your instructions, God Himself, or maybe just your friends. Obviously, everyone knows totally different people, everyone has a completely different circle of people they know, so it's up to you to decide who are the people who can lead you down the right road.

"And believe me, here, at graduation, we're all at a crossroads. I know a 'crossroads' is usually defined as a point where you can take this path or that path, but there's, like, lots and lots of paths you can take from here. You could become a mass-murderer—you could become an utter saint. But of course, most of us will fall somewhere in between. And most of the time, it's not anyone else's fault but ours where we end up. Ninety-nine percent of the time, we're the ones that really make the decisions that really impact our lives. And often they're not decisions that are easy. We'll lay awake at night, on the verge of breaking down as we decide on things that will affect our lives from here on out.

"And we'll have to deal with tough things… really, really tough things. Hopeless situations. Times when your closest friends and relatives die. Times when your friends betray you. Times when it seems like the whole world is either falling apart or going mad around you.

"Which pretty much brings me to the climax and conclusion of what I want to say—as hard as it can be, stay strong. Determine what path is right for you, and if you're, like, _sure_ of it—you're sure that your principles and your values are in line with that path—then follow it. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

"But also accept it when you've made mistakes—as God knows we all do. At the end of the day, you're responsible for your life, and you're responsible for the decisions you make—so own up to them. Don't try to pass the blame onto someone else. Pay for your mistakes, and learn from them. It is only through failure—whether it's our own or from watching others' failures-- that we become better people.

"And, well, that's… that's pretty much what I wanted to say."

Kitty stood there for a few moments, a nervous smile on her face.

Slowly, a few people in the audience—about half of them the X-Men—started to clap. Then a few more joined in, and a few more. Soon more than two-thirds of the audience present was standing, clapping enthusiastically, while the other third remained seated, muttering amongst themselves.

"Uh… alright, thanks for that, uh… enlightening speech," Principal Donaldson said, hurrying up to the microphone and almost pushing a blushing, grinning Kitty out of the way. "But, uh, we need to get going with the handing out of diplomas."

As Kitty put back on her graduation cap and returned to her seat, Webber gave her a few rough pats of encouragement on the shoulder. Donaldson continued, "Alright, we'll start with the first row and go back from there. Mrs. Dawkins will be handing out your diplomas, so come up when I call your name…"

* * *

Kitty had shaken so many hands she felt like hers was about to fall off.

It was after the graduation ceremony, and everyone that had attended had lined up to congratulate all the graduates.

To be honest, the rest of the ceremony had gone smoother than she had expected. Only one other insult was hurled at the X-Men graduates—at Kurt in particular—as they received their diplomas. A few attending members had refused to shake the hands of any of the graduating X-Men, but it's not like they missed it. Their hands were aching enough already.

Thankfully, the last few attendees were now finishing making their way down the long line of graduates, and the line was starting to fizzle out as everyone started to talk to each other, the last part of the ceremony officially over.

Kitty immediately started to look around for Arcade, and found him a few seconds later, talking to members of his "nerd clique" who were also graduating. Waving to him as she made her way over, Webber quickly saw Kitty out of the corner and waved back.

"Hey, Kitty!" Webber yelled as she came within earshot. "Great speech!"

"Yeah, thanks," Kitty yelled, grinning quickly, her mind clearly on something else as she then quickly apologized to Arcade's friends and pulled him aside.

"Webber, seriously, why did you do that?" Kitty asked, keeping her voice low so his friends didn't hear. "I thought you totally hated us."

"Well, I tried to _kill_ you," Webber laughed with a snort. "Not quite the same thing."

"C'mon, Webber—I mean, thanks and all, but—"

"No, I know what you're getting at," Webber interrupted, waving Kitty's concerns away as Rogue and Kurt slowly came up behind Kitty, both of them having spotted the two starting to talk and interested in the outcome of this conversation as well. "Look, I know it didn't exactly look like we were friends anymore after I sorta… y'know, hacked your Mansion's security system and thought I was playing some elaborate computer game when I was really giving you guys the fight of your lives."

"Well, I wouldn't say _that,_" Rogue said, crossing her arms. "I mean, we've tangled with Apocalypse, after all."

"Hey, I'm in the top 10 on the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare _and_ the Halo 3 leaderboards," Arcade replied defensively. "They don't call me 'Arcade' for nothing."

Kitty sighed, rolling her eyes before saying, exasperated, "I can't believe I'm saying this Webber, but yes, you did a _fine _job of trying to kill us. I'm sure none of us could have done any better if our positions were switched. Now, get on with the explanation, please."

"Oh, right," Webber replied, adjusting his glasses before continuing. "Well, I mean, needless to say, when the whole 'Mutant' thing went public it didn't take long for me to put two and two together. Before I had figured the reason you guys were in the game was because you had created avatars that looked like you when you had 'played the game' some time earlier."

"Aaand you didn't think that the 'graphics' looked a little _too _good for a video game?" Rogue asked sarcastically.

"Rogue, please," Kitty said, clutching her forehead. "Just… Webber, please continue."

"Well, it DID looked like a pretty advanced system, I didn't think it was outside the realm of possibility… certainly no moreso than you guys actually having superpowers," Webber said, shrugging. "But anyways, when you guys finally came back to Bayville High after your, uh… leave of absence… you guys didn't seem to want to talk to me, or anyone at the school that wasn't a Mutant, really. And to be honest, I was still trying to get over the whole idea that people I knew actually had cool superpowers."

"They have their downsides…" Kurt said.

"Well, I mean, yeah, I'm sure," Webber replied. "But I was too nervous to talk to you guys, you guys thought I hated you because I wasn't talking to you… so I guess it just went on for these two years because neither of us were willing to talk to each other. But really, I don't hate you just 'cause you're Mutants. I think that's kinda silly. If anything, I think it makes you guys super-awesome! I wish I had your cool powers!"

"I never thought I'd say this, but we need more people like Arcade," Rogue mumbled.

"But since I'm leaving in a few weeks for an IT university out in Cali, I realized this was my last chance to make amends with you guys… so I did," Arcade shrugged. "So… I really, really am sorry."

"Well, none of us came out of it seriously injured or anything," Kitty said, smiling. "Apology accepted, Webber. And… I'm sorry I had automatically assumed you hated us."

"Eh, it's no biggie," Arcade said sheepishly. "Just kinda sucks that we're all reconciling here just when I'm about to leave. Since my folks still live here, though, I should be back a few times a year and we can get together and do some computer gaming 'n stuff, Kitty."

"Uhm, wellll…" Kitty said, her eyes wandering skyward as she scratched the back of her neck.

"What?" Arcade asked, an eyebrow raised. "What's wrong?"

"I'm actually—"

"Little Miss 'Stay Strong' is chickening out and leaving the X-Men," Rogue said, interrupting Kitty.

"_Rogue!_" Kitty snapped. "I'm not 'chickening out'! I'm leaving because this isn't, like, the path I think is intended for me, is all. And it's not like _you're_ one to talk about me leaving the X-Men…"

Rogue mumbled something unintelligible under her breath, but otherwise didn't reply.

"…Oh," Arcade said, momentarily looking crestfallen before putting on a forced smile. "Well, whatever you want, I guess. I can't imagine wanting to leave something like the X-Men, but then again I'm not in it, 'a course."

"Sorry," Kitty said, her eyes now focused on the ground, refusing to meet Webber's. "It was a tough decision, but… one I hope is the right one."

"Well, you guys'll always have my thanks for helping to save the world from that crazy pharoah," Webber said. "Among a dozen other things."

"I see you've been following our, uh… 'exploits' kinda closely," Kurt said.

"Yeah, a bit," Webber grinned. "I mean, this stuff is a geek's dream, let me tell ya. I grew up reading comics about stuff like this, and to find out it's more or less _real_, minus the radioactive origins and whatnot? It's just surreal."

"You know what else is surreal? The fact that we're done with high school forever," Kitty said, transparently wanting to change the subject as she took off her graduation cap and started to absentmindedly fiddle with it. "Who knew that moving a string from one side of a cap to the other had so much meaning?"

"I hear zat," Kurt said. "I still can't believe Rogue actually _graduated_. What is up with our school system?"

"Hey!"

"Kidding, kidding!" Kurt laughed as Rogue gave him a playful shove.

"Hey, do you want to meet my parents really quick?" Kitty asked.

"You parents are here? Cool, I've never met 'em," Arcade said. "I didn't think they'd be coming here all the way from Chicago."

"Of course they would!" Kitty said as she and Arcade left Rogue and Kurt behind and made their way to the other side of the field. "Though… they're not just here to attend the ceremony, to be honest. They're also helping me pack up my things and driving me home tomorrow."

"Ah," Arcade said. They were both silent for a few moments before he continued, "Say, do you know whatever happened to Risty? I haven't seen her around here for over a year now. Did she move back to England or something?"

"Um… yeah, yeah, that was what happened…"

* * *

From the edge of the football field, perched at a position under the stands, X-23's eyes narrowed as they followed Kitty & Arcade closely, walking briskly towards Mr. and Mrs. Pryde.

She hadn't been invited to the graduation ceremony—Professor Xavier didn't feel very comfortable having her in such a large crowd of people just yet.

She couldn't honestly say that she blamed him for that.

She had snuck up into the stands about midway through the ceremony, curious as to what exactly this "graduation ceremony" involved. Like everyone, she was rather surprised when Arcade had let Kitty make his speech for him.

But then Kitty had the nerve to make her speech about staying strong… _of all things_.

Shadowcat didn't know the _meaning_ of the word.

X-23 dropped down from her position among the steel bars below the stands, hitting the ground with barely a sound.

It was time she taught Kitty exactly what "staying strong" meant—for the good of the X-Men and their cause, she had to know before it was too late.

No matter what the consequences were.

* * *

"Danielle, make sure Bobby knows I want _strawberry_ ice cream, alright? No sprinkles or candy or any of that extra stuff!" Kitty yelled down the hallway as she opened the door to her and Moonstar's room, her gaze focused on her friend, who was currently on the phone.

Kitty heard Danielle repeat her request into the phone, and Moonstar gave a thumbs up before running back towards the stairs.

With both her and Berzerker leaving tomorrow, the X-Men were throwing a bit of a "going-away" party tonight, and Bobby and Jubilee were out buying ice cream for everyone at the nearest Cold Stone Creamery. It had made the most sense to send Bobby on the errand, of course, since he could make sure that the ice cream didn't get too soft before he made it back to the Mansion. Jubilee had volunteered to come along because—well, she hadn't outright said why, but everyone knew. Ever since Sam's death, something had… changed between Bobby and Jubilee. Most had guessed that Sam's death had shown them just how suddenly someone could be taken away. Apparently the two had always had romantic feelings towards each other, but neither of them had had the courage to express those feelings. Sam's death had pushed one of them to tell the other in private. No one was sure whether it was Jubilee who broke down and admitted her feelings or Bobby, but the end result was that they both were more than friends now—they were boyfriend and girlfriend, and rather close ones at that. Still, outside of their feelings towards each other, they were still the same relatively carefree spirits they had always been.

With Bobby and Jubilee gone and Danielle on the phone, just about everyone else—including her parents—were downstairs in the main meeting room, chatting, or playing board games. Apparently a few of the pieces from Life were missing, and the box had been stored in the cupboard in Kitty and Danielle's room, so since Danielle was currently occupied, Kitty had gone up to look for the missing pieces.

Kitty walked into her room, closed the door, turned to face her and Danielle's cupboard, and froze, the smile instantly vanishing from her face.

"I was wondering how long it would take you to get up here," Laura said, standing in front of the cupboard. Tossing the couple of game pieces Kitty was looking for on the floor, she continued, "You're not very observant. That will have to change—for all of you."

"What do _you_ want?" Kitty said coldly.

"I was at the graduation ceremony earlier today," Laura said, crossing her arms. "I heard your speech."

"…_And?_"

"You know exactly what I mean. Don't pretend. You made a speech about following the path you've been set on, no matter who or what gets in your way."

"Well, I don't remember putting it exactly like _that,_ that's a bit too confrontational, but—"

"Yet you're quitting as of tomorrow," Laura continued, as if Kitty hadn't talked. "I am curious how you can commit such hypocrisy."

"I'm not _quitting!_" Kitty yelled in frustration. "You want to know my path? It's not here! I can't—"

"You won't."

"—I _can't_ continue to deal with these constant battles against these mega-Mutants, deaths, giant robots, haywire powers, all these heart-pounding moments! It's non-stop here! I'll contribute to the world via other means—like, y'know, attending college and getting a degree! What a lot of _normal_ people do!"

"So you wish you were normal."

"I _didn't—_" Kitty started to say in anger, then suddenly forced herself to calm down before continued. "Alright, sometimes I _do_ wish I was normal. I'm sure we all do. I'm sure _you_ do."

"I will not lie. I do," Laura said, briefly turning over her arm so Kitty could see the rapidly-healing twin scars over X-23's wrist, which made the color drain from Kitty's face pretty quickly. "But I realize that to continue to wish for something that will clearly never happen is foolish. This is our situation. We must deal with it. And we must use our abilities to accomplish our mission as best as we can."

"There you go again, talking about our 'mission' again! Listen, Laura, I'm totally sorry about your past, I really am. But you're _out _of that hell now. The real world doesn't work like that—out here in the real world, the person comes _before_ the 'mission.' Yes, the X-Men have an overall purpose, but we're also a circle of friends. Something _you_ apparently still can't understand!"

"Friends can abandon you, Kitty. I may be younger than you, but this is something I know very well from experience," Laura said, slowly walking over to a box on Kitty's bed that contained many of her packed-up belongings. "And when friends abandon you… there is only the mission. Our mission to secure a place for Mutantkind among mankind—to get them to accept us, as well as stop the Acolytes, the Brotherhood, and other Mutants from corrupting this mission."

"That's your past talking, Laura," Kitty said. "Out of all of my time with the X-Men, none of them have ever betrayed us. You can trust us. Please. Let yourself out of this self-imposed cell you're in and become _friends_ with us."

Laura sighed. "I see I'll have to teach you about this the hard way."

Reaching into Kitty's box of belongings, X-23 pulled out a framed black-and-white picture. Looking at it for a moment, she turned it around so that Kitty could see it and idly asked, "Who is this?"

"That's… that's my great-grandmother," Kitty said nervously. "She… she escaped from the Nazi regime and emigrated to America. She's one of my personal hero—"

Before Kitty could even react, X-23 casually unsheathed her claws and sliced the picture into thirds, the glass frame pieces shattering as they fell onto the floor.

Looking at Kitty, who was utterly speechless, mouth agape, tears welling up in her eyes, X-23 said emotionlessly, "She is a person. Flawed, just like we all are. She has no relevance to the mission—we are not fighting Nazis. Therefore, you must forget her. _That_ is how you stay strong, Shadowcat. By leaving your personal connections behind."

"Hmm," X-23 said, rummaging through Kitty's belongings again. "Is this a picture of your great-grandf—"

Kitty suddenly launched herself at X-23, a cry of unbridled anger, pain, and hatred interrupting Laura. X-23 had been expecting this and ducked, causing Kitty to slam into the floor behind her.

"You're being sloppy," X-23 said, slowly standing up and turning around to face Kitty. "That is another thing that has to change."

"The only thing that needs to 'change' around here is YOU!" Kitty screamed, jumping again at X-23. X-23 dodged, but Kitty quickly grabbed a fistful of Laura's dark brown hair. Initiating her Mutant ability, Kitty phased herself out entirely, but only phased X-23's upper body with her. Using the momentum generating by her jump, Kitty phased downwards through the floor, dragging X-23 with her to the first floor in a downward arc, leaving X-23 in an extremely uncomfortable crouched position with only her head sticking out of the kitchen's ceiling while her curled legs stuck out of the floor in the room above and her body and arms are stuck in the area in-between the floors.

"I'm getting the Professor," Kitty said, letting go of Laura and unphasing as she landed on the kitchen floor. "This has gone far enough."

"Not yet," X-23 said, unsheathing all her claws.

For the next second or so it was difficult for any one person to completely know what Laura was doing except Laura herself, given her unusual predicament. Almost faster than the eye could follow, she brought her hand claws downwards and cut a small circle around her head in the ceiling while at the same time in the room above bending her legs in a painful position that was just short of actually dislocating her knee joints and slicing a similarly-shaped circle in the second-story floor. The remaining sliver of structure was nowhere near enough to hold her weight and with a crack, she tumbled downwards into the kitchen upside down, a large circular chunk of wood, pipes, and drywall crumbling around her main body as she moved. Nimble as ever, she circled around in mid-air, landing on her feet.

Surprised, Kitty didn't have time to react as X-23 did a backwards flip and brought up a foot—the claw now retracted—right into the bottom of Kitty's chin, sending her reeling back into the kitchen wall behind her and slumping to the ground, the hanging pots and pans clanging down on her noisily as a result of the impact.

Cutting almost all of the remaining floor and ceiling debris away from her body in a few quick swipes of her hand-claws, X-23 then jumped up onto the ceiling again, upside down as Kitty began to recover and tossed aside the fallen pots and pans, holding her jaw which was quickly swelling from the kick.

Again taking Kitty by surprise while she was distracted, X-23 cut loose one of the bulbs from the chandelier above the kitchen table and threw it directly at her. Kitty barely had enough time to turn her face before the hot glass bulb smashed into the side of her face, splinters of it embedding in her cheek. Kitty hissed from the hot pain, then stopped with just the hiss as it made her jaw throb.

"You'll thank me for this soon enough," X-23 stated, letting go of the ceiling to land on the floor… only to find that she was stuck in mid-air.

"I've got her, Professor," came Jean's voice from the hallway. "She won't be able to do any more damage." Moments later Jean and Xavier entered the kitchen, several of the other Mansion's members right behind them, curious as to what all the commotion was about.

"Oh my god, Kitty!" Mrs. Pryde cried out, immediately running over to where Kitty lay against the wall, partially covered with pots and pans, one side of her face filled with glass shards and bleeding profusely while her jaw was swelling badly. "Sweetie, what did she _do_ to you?!"

Kitty tried to talk, but she only managed to get a small amount of bloody spit out of her mouth before she decided it probably wasn't a good idea and closed her mouth again.

"Hank, let's get her to the medlab," Ororo said, motioning for Mrs. Pryde to stand back as Hank effortlessly—but carefully—picked Kitty up and carried her out of the room. "I'll let Kitty's father know what's happened."

"And you," Professor Xavier said angrily as Jean telekinetically turned X-23 around in mid-air so that she was directly facing both of them. "You know full well that what you did here was wrong! Yet you did it anyway!"

X-23 was fully expecting this, and was mentally preparing herself for what was obviously coming next. Still, she had never seen Xavier's face actually red from anger before. That, at least, was surprising.

"I needed to teach her a lesson," X-23 stated matter-of-factly. "One that all of you need to take to heart if—"

"Enough!" Xavier yelled, cutting her off. "YOU are not an instructor here. You were on thin ice already, Laura, but attacking your own teammate?!"

"Actually, she had attacked me first," X-23 stated.

"I know Kitty well, Laura. Don't try to pin this on her. She would not attack you unless you had pushed her the absolute _limit_. Enough is enough. You have ten minutes to pack your bags—you are hereby _expelled_ from the Xavier Institute! And once Jean releases you, if you don't immediately do so I will _make you leave_! Do you understand?!"

X-23 thought it odd that Xavier had ended the conversation with the exact same question that he had ended it with the previous time he had yelled at her.

Still, they would learn in the end. She knew it wasn't going to be long before everything that had been keeping the X-Men tense for so long came to a head… but this time, unlike with Nimrod, they weren't prepared to do what was necessary. Hopefully her example here would help them, make them understand what they would need to do before it was too late.

But for now… it was best to let things be. So, X-23 responded to that same question in the same manner that she had before.

"….Yes."

To be continued…


	2. Chapter 2

"Crossing Over, Part II"

by Beastbot

X-23 lifted her head up out of the stream, her dark brown hair soaking wet as she pushed it back behind her shoulders, red mixing with the water as it trailed down her face and uniform and down into the rushing water.

Waiting until the blood was finished washing off of her and trickling further downstream, she leaned her face forward into the water again and took several long, quick gulps of water. There was no sign of civilization for miles around out here in the Manitoban wilderness, so she didn't have to worry about any possible impurities being in the water.

Trudging back onto land, X-23 quietly sat down and put her boots on before taking a small backpack of things she had taken from the X-Mansion—a couple of bottles of water in case of an emergency, a blanket—something most people would consider only the absolute barest of essentials.

She, on the other hand, actually considered them needlessly extravagant. Yet even as the X-Men forcibly kicked her out of their Mansion—metaphorically speaking, of course, as she had put up no resistance—they had insisted she take these belongings. Very odd behavior—and, in her mind, just another example of the X-Men putting emotion over logic.

To say X-23 knew that this was coming had been an understatement. For weeks now, she had been all but certain that this was how things would end up. The X-Men were still far too much of a "family" for her liking as opposed to a military organization—something that she had hoped would have changed after the Nimrod incident, but apparently it hadn't. If anything, it had pulled them all closer together—though cracks were starting to appear with Shadowcat and Berzerker leaving.

X-23 was certain they would find the error of their ways soon enough, though—and the hard way, at that. H.Y.D.R.A. was planning something, and something big. With S.H.I.E.L.D. in hiding because of the Sentinel breakout, H.Y.D.R.A. knew that this was their chance to get rid of the world's major superpower and establish their own tyrannical rule in its place. X-23 was very well-versed in H.Y.D.R.A.'s creed, having been raised there, and knew their ultimate goals—first the U.S. would fall, and then once that hurdle was cleared and S.H.I.E.L.D. had no real power, the rest of the world would slowly but surely fall into line behind them, too frightened of the organization to offer up any real resistance.

Tough times were imminent. And for the sake of the world, the X-Men had to be ready to do what was necessary, no matter what it took.

X-23 had hoped that at least some of them besides Amara would come to see the light, but that had sadly not been the case. And so after her expulsion from the Xavier Institute, she had decided to at least attempt what the X-Men had refused to do, and had gone after H.Y.D.R.A.

She had taken an overnight flight to Winnipeg, but after that had quickly fled into the wilderness, not willing to make her presence known to any segment of the public up here—H.Y.D.R.A.'s eyes and ears were all over Canada, and all it took was one agent to spot her and the jig could quite possibly be up before it even started.

And so here she was, not even a day after she had been driven from the X-Mansion. She had made surprisingly good time, given the endurance level that had been beaten into her since birth, and was now just a bit west of the massive Lake Winnipeg.

Still, she had a few more provinces to cross before she knew she would be getting close to H.Y.D.R.A.'s remaining headquarters. With Madame Hydra dead, their power structure was certainly a bit unstable at the moment, despite their plans—and thus now it would be far easier to finally fatally wound the organization once and for all, before another leader took her place.

It was now or never.

Taking one final bite of the rough meat, X-23 headed onwards to her journey, her hurried pace quickly breaking into a run that was extraordinarily fast, given that superhuman speed wasn't one of her Mutant powers.

The only evidence that she had ever been at the stream was a caribou carcass just above the waterline, its head snapped and its body gutted. Soon enough even that would be gone as the forest scavengers moved in to pick at the remains.

* * *

"You're sure?" Moonstar asked.

"Yes, Moonstah," Kitty replied, sighing, her tone a bit lower and less enunciated than normal due to her swollen lip. A large square bandage covered most of her cheek where the light bulb had smashed against it, and Xavier had urged her to talk as little as possible due to her bruised jaw. Putting a hand up to silence Kurt before he could speak, she continued, "And yes, Kurt, I'm sure I'm sure. I'm gonna get a job at somewhere in Chicahgo and enter a Jewish university nearby come fall."

"Y'know, Kitty…" Amara said, pausing for a moment as she struggled to find the right words, "I know Laura can be a pain—literally—but I've talked with her now and again in the last month. She's really a lot wiser than she at first appears."

"Mahbe to a certain train of thought—but I'm sorreh, it's not a train of thought I subscwibe to," Kitty mumbled.

It was hard to believe—for anyone present—that the time had finally come. It was afternoon again, approximately a day after the graduation ceremony, and Kitty and Ray were saying their final goodbyes as everyone had gathered on the Institute's steps. Kitty's parents had been kind enough to give Ray a ride to the nearest airport, where he would depart on his own path and take a plane down to Texas A&M University.

"So you PROMISE you'll e-mail?" Jubilee asked Ray, laying her head on Bobby's shoulder. "As if me an' Bobby needed ANOTHER of our friends to go away."

"Hey, c'mon Jubes, it's not like that," Ray said, putting his hands up in defense. "I'll still e-mail, I'll still come and visit now and then, you guys know that. But I've got control of my powers, I've got no problems there. And I was with the Morlocks because I wasn't comfortable being around normal people, what with my Mutant abilities and all—after I joined the X-Men, you all helped me to overcome that. I'm fine now, and I just—I wanna get a job, that's all. And though I'm getting some financial aid and stuff like that, I need to get working down there ASAP so I'll be able to afford the fall semester. C'mon, you guys have known about this for a long time now."

"I guess," Rahne sighed. "We just hate t' see you leave, is all. I hated it when I had to leave, after all—though 'a course, that was involuntarily on m' part."

"Hey, we've been through a lot together, Rahne," Ray said. "I'm not gonna forget you guys, I _promise_. And, uh… be sure to keep me updated on the Jamie sitch."

"Will do," Hank said, giving a quick salute to Ray.

"Well, honey, are you ready?" Mrs. Pryde asked, laying a hand on her daughter's shoulder. "We need to get going if we're to drop Ray off at the airport and then make it down past New York City before the day ends. You know how the traffic gets."

"Yeah… yeah, I guess so," Kitty said. Giving all of the X-Men one final embrace, Kitty and Ray both said goodbye repeatedly to everyone as they piled into the Pryde's minivan.

All of the remaining X-Men watched and waved, several of their eyes moist, as the minivan started up and the doors closed, Kitty and Ray still waving from inside.

They watched and waved as the minivan pulled away and down the driveway.

They watched and waved as the gates opened and the minivan pulled off, turning onto the main road.

Some even continued to wave as the gates closed, even though the vehicle by that point was out of sight.

"Well," Xavier said after a few moments of silence. "I suppose we should get inside. We all need to pitch in and finish repairing the kitchen, after all."

Slowly, regretfully, Beast opened the door for the Professor and they both entered, followed by a few of the students. A few more followed shortly later, and a few more a short while later, and then a few more.

Several minutes later though, Bobby, Jubilee, Danielle, Piotr, and Kurt still stood out there, silent, their eyes dripping the occasional tear and fixated on the gate that the Pryde's minivan had exited from.

They all continued to stand there, completely silent, Bobby and Jubilee wrapped in an embrace, Kurt with a hand on Danielle's shoulder, Piotr standing by himself behind them all.

"Y'know," Moonstar said, sniffling, finally breaking the silence, "You keep expecting them to come speeding back through that gate, both of them running out of the doors of the Pryde's vehicle and saying they made a mistake, they want to be back with us, they want to be X-Men again…"

A few moments passed before Piotr came over and patted Danielle's shoulder firmly, saying, "But that is not what is to happen, what is meant to be. Their chapter in our lives—and ours in theirs— is over."

With a couple of slow nods, the remaining four X-Men, slowly but surely, peeled their eyes away from the gate and made their way back inside.

* * *

Sinister sighed as he looked at yet another two Jamies restrained and held down on operating tables in front of him—yet another two, where only one had been just moments ago.

This was quickly growing old.

His hypothesis of never being able to clone a personality exactly, never being able to duplicate an individual down to the closest personality quirk, the closest decision, had, up until recently, appeared to be a sure thing.

After all, if he had learned nothing else from the X-23 debacle, it had been that.

Everything had been laid out in advance. All the appropriate genomes had been mapped. After many failures, X-23 would have been the culmination of his life's work—an individual that technically had free will, but simply _chose_ not to exercise it. Due to their genetic predispositions, they would tend to follow rules and restrictions set by their predefined superiors, with a weak personal morality that would minimize, if not outright eliminate, any chance of rebellion.

Those individuals were rather common in real life, of course. They chose to follow a leader's every order. They _chose_ to be slaves, at least figuratively. So H.Y.D.R.A. had tried to isolate the gene that had been behind this condition of certain people to become mindless sheep, and had applied it to X-23's genome—liberally.

But in the end, for some reason, it hadn't worked. X-23 had rebelled just like all the others. Only this time, she was smart enough, powerful enough, to resist their efforts to recapture her, to brainwash her—unlike with some of the project's previous attempts.

This was what he was attempting to fix with all these Jamies.

Making Multiple's powers permanent—that is, creating separate Jamies—would create multiple potentialities. Normally, to see multiple "versions" of a person, one would have to travel between different realities—at least, that was what he and many other top scientists at H.Y.D.R.A. had hypothesized. But Jamie's powers allowed an opportunity to break through that normally impassable barrier.

So, where Sinister and H.Y.D.R.A. had failed with X-23, here he had _thought_ they were guaranteed success. After all, it took billions of dollars and years of training to even find out if an X-numbered clone would be right for the job—and even then they had made a mistake, obviously. Here they had essentially a limitless number of "tries". They had created a harmonic pulse emitter that, combined with a particular chemical they had injected into every Jamie's body, would temporarily force-split Jamie, with the chemical stopping him from reabsorbing the duplicate into himself. Not only that, but the duplicate ceased to be a duplicate, but in fact a full-fledged, other individual—it wasn't so much another Jamie splitting off of the existing Jamie as one Jamie splitting into two others. And has had been seen in the initial two Jamies, they had already seemed to diverge on a couple of personality aspects.

It had only been a matter of time, they had thought, before one Jamie they had created became what they considered the "perfect" Jamie—totally obedient, devoid of any real morality, willing to serve as long as it was assured that he would be taken care of.

So far, the results had been sadly lacking. Some Jamies had been overly rebellious, others whiny and submissive, others simply annoying or even somewhat feral.

"Alright, let's try this again," Sinister hissed, pinching his sinuses as he leaned over the first Jamie, who struggled helplessly against his much-stronger captors. "I'm sure you have the memories of the Jamie you split from, so I'm sure you know how this works. Answer the questions I want to ask."

"I-I'm Jamie M-madrox," Jamie whimpered, tears falling profusely out of his eyes. "I b-believe that Mutants should have the same status in the world as hu-humans… I work… I worked for the X-Men, but oh god please don't kill me PLEASE, I'll do whatever you want, just please PLEASE—"

_Wonderful,_ Sinister frowned, standing back up. _Another sniveling weakling._

To some extent, he preferred the Jamies who at least had some sort of spine. They were brainless morons, but at least they were brainless morons who didn't wiggle on every little thing if you so much as looked at them the wrong way. True, this Jamie had just essentially pledged his loyalty to H.Y.D.R.A. in exchange for deliverance from this torture—but it wasn't the right kind of loyalty. It was reluctant loyalty, loyalty that could not be trusted. As soon as that Jamie had a sure way out, he would take it, and that wasn't what he was looking for.

He was looking for a weapon whose power would dwarf any Mutant's—any NATION'S-- on the planet—but still be under H.Y.D.R.A.'s direct control. And a whimpering child wasn't it.

"Guards," Sinister said, motioning to the two H.Y.D.R.A. strongmen who were holding that particular Jamie down, "I've heard enough. Take him back to where the others are kept."

"N-no, no, please!" Jamie begged as the guards hefted up the frantic, panicking teenager and carried him out of the room. "Please, anything you want, anything—P-PLEEEEAASE!"

"Now," Sinister said, yawning, moving over to the other Jamie, "Let's try this again."

As he moved over to the other restrained Jamie, he noticed that unlike most of the others, this one met his eyes directly, and he didn't struggle against the agents holding him down.

_Likely another defiant one,_ Sinister thought to himself. _Still, at least his stubbornness should prove entertaining._

"Alright, you," Sinister said, bending over to look at the second Jamie directly, "Answer the questions."  
"I am M-56, going by how you catalogue the separation procedures," Jamie replied. Unlike the others, though, this Jamie sounded neither panicked, sarcastic, devious, nor determined. His tone was flat-lined—he was simply stating the answers to the questions that were asked, and nothing more.

Sinister couldn't help but grin. _This could be it… this could FINALLY be it…_

"I used to serve the X-Men. However, it has been months now. They have not come for me, and the chances are looking increasingly small that they ever will. You, however, clearly want me for a purpose, and will do anything and everything to me to get it. I cannot… help… but respect that, in a weird sort of way. So, now I serve H.Y.D.R.A., and whatever its goals are."

_Yes. YES, THIS WAS IT! _Sinister laughed. They had finally broken Jamie, but unlike the others, they hadn't broken him into a whimpering puddle of goo, a pathetic individual willing to do anything for a moment of respite, or turned him into a desperate but conniving little brat who was obviously going to backstab him at the first moment possible. Although he would need to make sure via further… tests, this Jamie's loyalty appeared to be unquestioning, complete—and yet his loyalty was of his own choice, more or less.

It was EXACTLY what he was looking for, the culmination of what this project was intended to create.

"Guards, let this one up," Sinister said, smiling.

The two large masked H.Y.D.R.A. guards looked at each other—presumably in confusion—but relented. Jamie still laid on the table after he was let free.

"M-56, get up," Sinister ordered, and the Jamie clone readily obeyed. "You are correct in all respects except one—you are not M-56, at least not any longer. No, your new designation is double-M—my Master Multiple, as it were. Why Master, you ask? Because, my dear boy, YOU will be the reason for H.Y.D.R.A.'s rise to power—and the subsequent fall of the world order in mere weeks.

"Now come," Sinister said, turning his back towards MM and gesturing for them both to walk out a different door than the one the whimpering Jamie and the other two guards had exited through just moments earlier. "I need to run some… tests… first, but if you pass these, then together, my boy, we will truly make history."

* * *

"So now what?" Rahne said, blowing lightly on the glass surface of the coffee table and then rubbing her finger across the condensation in boredom.

"What do you mean, 'now what'?" Rogue asked, looking across the meeting room's table at Rahne. "We continue on, as we always have. I'll miss Kitty and Ray too, but it's not like they held the team together or anything like that."

"Rogue's right," Scott said. "I'm sure we'll all miss them both, but at least they left alive and well. We'll still see them now and then, anyways."

"Yeah, but you know how long-distance friendships get," Amara replied. "At first, it's great—you e-mail each other every little thing and send tons of pictures, but then, y'know… life happens, and then more life happens. The e-mails get fewer and fewer, the phone calls less and less common. And then, one day—whether that's measured in months or years—the communications will just stop coming."

"Yeah, I mean let's be honest, Kitty in particular was leaving because she WANTED to forget about her experiences here," Paige interjected. "Not that I blame her. I'm not really expecting to keep in touch with her for very long, either."

"As much as I'd hate to see that happen," Scott replied, "It's still Kitty's right. This isn't a prison we're running, after all."

"I suppose," Rahne sighed. "I just really… really thought that she cared about us."

"Hey, now," Jean interjected. "Of course Kitty cares about us. It's not like she hasn't saved some of our lives on more than one occasion. She's just stressed out about the situation the Institute has been in lately and wanted out—and honestly, who hasn't been stressing to some degree?"

"Ah, Xavier told me he sensed you all in here," Ororo said, interrupting the conversation as she and Xavier entered the meeting room. "We've been looking for you."

"Well, I think Kurt and Danielle are upstairs in their rooms, but otherwise yeah, we're all here," Jean said. "What's up?"

"Well, as you all know, summer vacation is now upon us—" Storm was interrupted by a loud "YEAH!" from Bobby near the back of the room before she sighed and continued—"which means that normally in about a week we'd let all of the students who have parents go home to be with their families over the vacation."

Bobby was about to respond with another "YEAH!", but Jubilee suddenly caught his arm before he pumped it in the air and asked Ororo, "What do you mean, 'normally'?"

"Well, er… that's what we wanted to talk to you all about," Xavier said, clearly looking uncomfortable now. "With the situation the way it is now—"

"Oh, you've gotta be KIDDING me!" Jubilee protested, standing up and putting her hands on her hips. "Don't get me wrong, I like being here, but now I can't even go home to see my _family?_"

"Please, Jubilee, let me finish," Xavier said. "Yes, all of you that can will be able to go home to see your families this summer. We won't deny you that. However, with tensions as high as they are—Jamie and Tabitha missing, Magneto having been quiet for far too long, sentiment against Mutants on the rise again as Mayor Kelly's Registration Act comes to a vote soon—we don't think things will be particularly quiet this summer. That's why instead we're thinking of staggering your vacations, so that at least three-fourths of you are here at any time during the summer."

"What!" Rahne exclaimed.

"Oh, c'mon!" Bobby protested.

Jubilee cursed under her breath.

"Just wonderful," Paige said, throwing her hands into the air.

"Sounds fair to me, I don't really like my folks anyways," Amara mumbled.

"I don't kn-know if I like that…" Cessily said softly.

Roberto merely grimaced.

"I'd agree with them if I had a family to go back to," Rogue said.

"C'mon guys, I know how you feel—" began Scott.

"_Says the guy with no parents…_" Jubilee whispered under her breath. Bobby snickered.

"Hey, I heard that!" Scott said, turning to Jubilee angrily. "You wanna trade places, Lee?"

"Scott, please," Jean said, putting a hand on her boyfriend's shoulder, "We don't need to make this situation worse than it already is."

"Look, here is the plan as it stands now," Ororo said. "We'll start in alphabetical order by last name, which means that Amara, you'll take your two-week break first, starting in two days—"

"_Two weeks?_" Jubilee exclaimed. "That's _it?_"

"C'mon, no one ever said being an X-Man would be easy…" Jean said.

"Well, y'know what then?" Jubilee said. "Maybe I don't want to BE an X-Man, if this is what it means!"

"Look, let's be rational here," Amara said, standing up, "And not make any decisions we'll regret. This isn't just a normal sit--"

"Funny, my decision to come back here is a decision I'm starting to regret _right now_," Jubilee interrupted, crossing her arms.

"I th-think I agree with Jubilee, h-here," Cessily said, standing up meekly. "At least in p-principle. I came here with the un-understanding that I'd still be able to s-see my p-parents for a couple months out of the year. I mean, I l-love my parents-- I get along with them pretty well."

"So do I!" Rahne said. "I'd like to see them fer more than just two weeks!"

"And don't forget that that's two weeks, _total,_" Paige said. "Given the travel times to and from where we live, it'll actually be less than two weeks—for some of us, substantially so."

"So let me get this straight," Scott said. "We've been through attacks from the Brotherhood, Magneto's Acolytes, Apocalypse, Nimrod, Mutant-haters, H.Y.D.R.A.… we've had two of our own killed… and you're threatening to leave over _shorter summer breaks_?"

"I agree with Scott—" Jean began.

"Of course you do, you ALWAYS agree with Scott!" Paige interrupted.

"Look, _I_ agree with Scott, too," Amara said. "The situation here is… kinda unstable, really. I think we need to remember that this isn't all about us—"

"Amara, what's _happened_ to you?" Jubilee said. "You used to be such a cool person, but ever since that little scuffle with Tabitha, you're almost reminding me of X-23 in some ways. It's creepy, and it's one other reason why I'm starting to hate this place."

As Amara fumbled for an answer to that unexpected accusation, Rahne continued, "Look, I don't know if we should be getting all rude 'n such over this, but I see where Jubilee's comin' from. Look, it's not just th' fact that our breaks away from th' Mansion are bein' shortened, it's th' reasoning behind it. You say that it's because things are unstable—well, look at our history, for goodness' sake! Other than a short period after I got here, when have things _not_ been unstable? They're always unstable, which means that we'll always end up with shorter and shorter breaks. I just see it bein' a slippery slope."

"Rahne, you know us better than that," Jean replied. "C'mon, we wouldn't do that to—"

"You've already _done_ it," Jubilee said. "Line already crossed, Miss Grey!"

Amara watched sadly as the argument continued to go back-and-forth, escalating with almost every remark. The instructors and her were on one side; Bobby, Jubilee, Rahne, Cessily, and Paige on the other. Rogue probably would have sided with Jubilee, if she had anywhere to go. As it was, she kept silent. As did Roberto, who hadn't given out a clue as to which side he was on, though a sinking feeling was apparent in his expression as well. Ororo and Professor Xavier stood off to the sidelines, looking at each other with concerned faces but unwilling to actually stop the argument. After all, the unhappiness here at the Institute had been bubbling underneath for quite some time, and with everything that had happened recently it seemed to have finally boiled over. Apparently they felt that as long as things didn't get physical, it was best to let them argue it out.

It was then that a thought popped up in Amara's head.

_Laura was right._

For all of the clone's overly violent tendencies, for all her social dysfunctions—she was right. With all the pressures and obstacles that the X-Men faced—and would no doubt continue to face-- being a school simply wasn't enough anymore. A school was too lax, with the focus being on helping Mutants learn and adapt to their powers—to blend into normal society. They could come or go as they pleased, and say almost anything they wanted to anyone. No, the world situation was forcing the Institute to either move beyond that or perish in the process. Although Mercury and Husk, the two newest members, still had the occasional problem, for the most part everyone here had already learned how to use their powers. They weren't going to blend into normal society anytime soon, they were far too well-known—particularly around here—and too many of them had overt physical differences that made them stand out in a crowd.

The focus of the school had to change, and it had to change soon, or it would all fall apart, as it was right in front of her. Not quite into an out-and-out army, but a more military-like organization was needed, with the focus on attacking, incapacitating, and in some cases even killing the enemy. They needed to forget about learning how to control their powers and instead focus on how to use them to injure or destroy their enemies while protecting innocents. They needed to lessen the focus on school and give their activities here primary importance. It wasn't pleasant, but it was becoming increasingly obvious to her that life at the Institute wasn't supposed to be pleasant.

But it was still necessary, to protect not just Mutantkind, but humanity as well.

Perhaps if they had focused more on rescuing Jamie and killing—rather than just incapacitating or chasing away—invaders, Multiple might still be here.

As the argument continued, Amara quietly got up and made her way over to Professor Xavier.

"…Professor Xavier, I really think we need to talk about something…"

Xavier looked up at Amara, concerned. "Normally I'd oblige you, Amara, but this isn't really the time."

"Please," Amara said, her tone wavering. "This is really important."

Xavier looked up at Storm, who shrugged. Xavier sighed and turned around in his wheelchair. "Alright, Amara. Follow me."

* * *

X-23 deftly leapt from tree branch to tree branch, the greenery of the pine forest rushing by her.

She could smell them. All around her, in fact.

Or rather, she could smell _him_.

Jamie Madrox.

She wasn't sure how Jamie had found her, or why exactly he was trying to hunt her down, but one thing was for certain—she wasn't going to let him get a hold of her.

At least, that was what she had thought when the chase had began.

But as the pursuit through the wilderness of Canada had continued, his smell had grown stronger and stronger, even though a direct line-of-sight view of Jamie had been rare. She had been avoiding him by her advanced smell and hearing alone.

That could mean only one thing—Jamie had been using his powers to multiply.

But it wasn't his traditional multiplying—what had been confusing her was that multiple Jamies had been closing in on her location from multiple locations, according to her senses. And they were ALL multiplying. Very rapidly. That didn't fit with what she knew of Multiple's powers—over this long of a distance, he shouldn't have been able to keep control of his temporary duplicates. And soon X-23 would have a veritable army on her tale.

_Wait a minute…._ _An army_.

She had to get a hold of the X-Men as soon as possible. The situation was d-

X-23 heard a blast from a machine gun come from right behind her, which she dodged at an awkward angle. Odd, the Jamies shouldn't have been at this position so soo—

She lost her footing, kicking herself inwardly for being caught so unaware as she tumbled to the ground, though she managed to recover in mid-air and land on her feet.

In front of her, several yards away, was a Jamie duplicate, emotionless, his machine gun smoking.

"Got you," was all he said, readying his gun again.

"Not yet," X-23 growled, leaping towards Jamie—but in the time she had leapt toward Jamie, he had quickly multiplied. Twice, three times, four times, five times, again and again and again. Soon she was surrounded by Jamies, all of them wielding machine guns. She sliced through the original Jamie in front of her, expecting it to disappear in thin air like with any of Jamie's duplicates—but instead she cut through him like she would any normal being, blood and viscera splattering onto her surprised face. Around her, she saw seven Jamie duplicates disappear into thin air like she had expected… but the rest were still here. So if she hadn't killed one of the two Jamies, then….

X-23 cursed inwardly. If H.Y.D.R.A. had found a way to create more permanent Jamie duplicates, than that meant the situation was a thousand times more dire than she had thought even moments ago. That meant H.Y.D.R.A. could achieve world domination in a matter of weeks… days, even.

And she was helpless to stop it.

The Jamie she had sunk her claws into died instantaneously, sinking to the ground, but the other Jamies that hadn't disappeared multiplied further, more than replacing the one X-23 had downed and the seven that had disappeared as a result.

With at least a hundred guns trained on her, X-23 reluctantly held her hands up, sheathing her claws as she detected another smell—not Jamie's—nearby.

As if on cue, a H.Y.D.R.A. helicopter landed just outside the large ring of Jamies surrounding her, and moments later a tall white-skinned man with red eyes and a smirk on his face walked out in front of the army of Jamies, clapping slowly.

"Oh, bravo," the man said. "You managed to down eight of them. Oh my, if nothing else this shows how obsolete you really are now, X."

"Who are you!" X-23 demanded angrily. "You wear the symbols of a leader of H.Y.D.R.A., yet I've never seen your record in the decrypted files. What about Madame Hydra?"

"Oh, please," the man said. "I didn't get where I am by simply spilling the beans to any potential interrogator. Besides, you're hardly in a position to be demanding answers."

X-23 merely glared daggers at the man in response as he slowly walked closer to her until they were mere feet apart.

"But I suppose I'm in a good enough mood today to tell you two things. Firstly, Madame Hydra is a figurehead, and in reality a fictional character. I have about six 'Madame Hydras' working for me in various parts of the world."

X-23's face fell momentarily, then she quickly put up her emotional wall again, regaining her furious expression.

"Ah, see? And that was why I told you, to see the look on your traitorous face. Yes, even your _big crusade_ against us made us lose very little. H.Y.D.R.A. is quite expansive, X. And, like our 'mascot' of sorts, if you cut one head off, two more will grow in its place.

"But secondly, yes, I have perfected your friend Jamie, here. Or, should I say, your _former _friend—"

X-23 interrupted the albino's monologue with a cry of fury, in the blink of an eye rushing forward, unsheathing her claws, and stabbing two of them right into the man's heart.

The man merely stood there for a moment, shocked… and then laughed in response.

X-23 looked at him in a mixture of confusion and horror as the albino took her roughly by the hand, and yanked the claws out of his chest, the flesh regenerating instantly.

"You're not the only one with regeneration powers, X," the albino chuckled. "But because of your little outburst there, you don't even get to have me finish telling you your second little tidbit of information.

"Double-M," the albino continued, his expression now deadly serious, "Make her feel pain that she's only _dreamed_ about."

Powerless to escape the Mutant's grasp, which was so strong it was surely one of his Mutant powers, X-23 heard the sound of the army of Jamies reloading their weapons—and then the sound of a hundred machine guns all unloading their rounds into her.

Again, and again, and again. Even her healing powers couldn't keep up with this rain of bullets.

She coughed up blood helplessly as she fell to the ground, feeling her body being shredded to pieces as the mysterious albino man merely watched and laughed.

* * *

Professor Xavier just sat there, digesting what Amara had told her.

"….Well?"

"Amara, I appreciate your insight, and in some ways I perhaps agree with you. Perhaps it is time to lessen the focus on controlling your powers, since almost all of you have no problems in that area anymore. But… leaving school? Becoming a quasi-military organization? Teaching students to outright kill our enemies? It seems somehow… wrong… to me."

"And this doesn't?" Amara said, her eyes clouding up with tears as she motioned towards the room next to her, where the argument was still going on. "We're falling apart, Professor. You know it, and I know it. Something needs to change, and fast."

"I… agree with you, at least as far as that goes," Xavier replied. "But… I've never been one to _force_ change. It's… simply not who I am. Especially when I'm not sure if that change is good in the first place. I don't even know if cutting back my students' summer vacations is the right decision."

Looking back up, Amara could see that tears were starting to fall down Xavier's cheeks, as well. "Amara, I… I never intended for this place to become some sort of military Mutant training center. I just… wanted Mutants who felt alone, afraid, and helpless a place to stay and regain control of their lives."

"And you've done that," Amara said, leaning over and hugging her mentor. "But unfortunately, I think you _have_ to take this next step."

Xavier looked down for a moment, then looked back up at Amara, who had stood back up again.

"I'll be honest, Amara. I know you always look to me as the decision-maker, the last word, but… I just don't know what do here. Either way, in one way or another… I see us losing."

* * *

_"Dale, quick! Get the photo to your house, it'll be safe there!"_

_"Gi--- SQUIRREL TACTIC!"_

Deadpool laughed as he leaned back in his wooden chair, tears starting to stream from the eyeholes in his black-and-red mask as he watched the animated character on the television screen in front of him scramble over a tree and then a fence to keep a photograph away from some thugs.

"Oh, man… ah, Dale Gribble, you crack me up…. And _yet_ your conspiracy theories intrigue me at the same time. Maybe Mike Judge was onto something when he created you…."

_"We'll be right back after these messages…."_

"WHAT!" Deadpool roared, suddenly taking out his gun in anger and shooting a hole through the TV, which fizzled and then smoked.

_Whoa. Where'd THAT come from?_

"I HATE commercials," Deadpool responded to his inner voice, taking the television set and chucking it into a corner of the room that held another ten televisions in near-identical condition. "Well, except for any that happen to advertise my various wonderful monthly ongoing series, that is."

_Right. TV commercials advertising comics, least of all OUR comics. And they say I'm crazy._

"Who's they? YOU NEVER SPECIFY WHO THEY—"

Deadpool suddenly stopped midsentence, a distant rumbling catching his attention.

"What the--?"

Deadpool forgot all about his ruined television set as he ran to the nearest window facing the direction the rumble was coming from.

What he saw shocked him so much he was literally speechless for a few moments.

Outside the window of his run-down, mostly wooden shack out in the northwestern United States wilderness, an army was slowly marching down into the valley in his line of site, coming in off of the horizon.

And as Deadpool watched, the army got bigger and bigger and bigger. In just the ten seconds he stood there gawking, he estimated that it became at least five-to-ten percent larger than it had been earlier. And the troops already filled the horizon.

And, from what he could see from this distance, the soldiers were all _identical_.

"OMG!" Deadpool screamed, fully in panic mode.

_…Did you really actually just _say_ 'oh-em-gee'?_

"Shut up!" Deadpool hissed to himself, quickly rummaging around his shack and grabbing every sort of weapon he could find—knives, guns, swords, grenades—and stuffing them all into the various sheaths and pockets he had on his uniform. "Massive, ever-growing army… coming down from the direction of Canada, the southern border of which is only five miles north of here… isn't it obvious! The Canadians have finally lost it and are invading America!"

_…But they aren't wearing mountie hats. Don't all Canadians wear mountie hats? And aren't we Canadian?_

"If I was, I'D BE WEARING A MOUNTIE HAT!" Deadpool explained. "….Though I am actually Canadian. Which calls into question our logic, admittedly."

_If it's the Canadians, then why do they all look the same? And why are they multip—ah, forget it. I give up._

"Smart man," Deadpool replied, frantically putting the last of his myriad weapons into a backpack and slinging it on his back.

Slamming open the door, Deadpool ran past the large sign on top of his shack that read "DEADPOOL—MERCENARY (WITH A MOUTH) FOR HIRE" and towards his two means of transportation, which were both beside the dirt road between his shack and another shack a bit further away, and in the opposite direction of the advancing (and ever-growing) army.

Deadpool's gaze drifted back and forth between them anxiously, trying to choose which one to use.

"Lessee, spotless mint-condition Ford Mustang with flames or my old white horse… spotless mint-condition Ford Mustang with flames or my old white horse… C'mon, Deadpool, CHOOSE!"

Domino had never seen anything so bizarre in her entire life—and she had had a pretty unique life.

She had been suspicious of the growing rumble, but what really got her running out of the front door of her own shack was the faint hollering of Deadpool, calling her name frantically.

And now, out in front of her own home, she could scarcely believe what she was seeing.

A massive army that stretched across the entire horizon was slowly but surely marching towards her and Deadpool's homes, and even more oddly, it seemed to grow before her very eyes.

But that was nothing compared to what was running towards her.

It was Deadpool alright, but he was riding a rather decrepit white horse—one she had never seen before, in fact.

_Where did he get a horse?_

"DOMINO!" Deadpool yelled, relieved to see his mercenary partner now out of her home. As he continued to ride his horse agonizingly slowly towards her, he yelled out in panic, "DOM! THE CANADIANS ARE COMING! THE CANADIANS ARE COMING!"

X-MEN: EVOLUTION SEASON 6

FIN


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